Journalist Helen Thomas dies at 92

Helen Thomas, the White House correspondent who never shied away from sharing her views and grilling presidents, died on Saturday at the age of 92.

Thomas had been sick for a long time and was in and out of the hospital before coming home on Thursday, says friend Muriel Dobbin.

Thomas made a name for herself when she became a bulldog for United Press International, she was also a pioneer for women in journalism.

One White House secretary described her interviewing tactics as persistent to the point of badgering, and maybe even tortuous. Thomas was strongly opinionated and refused to hide her hostility toward Israel, even toward presidents.

In 2010, her career, which began in 1943, ended when a videotape of her circulated through the Internet. She stated that Israelis should “get out of Palestine” and “go home” to Germany, Poland or the United States. The remark brought down much disdain, and she ended her career.

In 2011, Thomas became a columnist for a free weekly newspaper in a Washington suburb.

“What made Helen the ‘dean of the White House Press Corps’ was not just the length of her tenure, but her fierce belief that our democracy works best when we ask tough questions and hold our leaders to account,” President Barack Obama, the last president she covered, said in a statement Saturday.